In October 2013 I wrote a piece on being a busy PR person.
All that busy-ness has paid off, and now I’m a busy PR manager, but my days haven’t got any less mad …
In addition to all I did, I now have a team, who report in to me. They all have days that more or less equal my day, and I try to hold their business in my head too.
As celebrity chef Alton Brown once said, “I'm going from doing all of the work to having to delegate the work – which is almost harder for me than doing the work myself. I'm a lousy delegator, but I'm learning.”
In fact, I thought I was doing pretty well at it, until in our last status meeting, they assigned me the task of writing a blog on learning how to delegate …
I can take a hint, so here is delegation, PR-style:
- Realise that you are not, in fact, the only person who can get it right … Ego has no place in the delegator’s mind
- Don’t expect people to volunteer – they are not, in fact, mind-readers and they do not know what is needed without you asking for it
- Asking for help does not make you weak – your team (I have discovered) will enjoy helping you and are grateful to be asked
- Learn to trust – no one does it wrong on purpose, they are trying to do their best and if you show them how to do it properly, they will
- Just do it – don’t wait for the best time, or an appropriate moment – tell someone to help you when you need it
- Don’t take refusals personally – work with the person to whom you have delegated a task to find out why they are saying no, and what can be done to allow them to assist you
- Delegate the outcome, not how to get to the outcome – people do things differently, and your way is not the only way and may not (deep breath) even be the best way
- Be prepared to train – it may seem easier and faster to do it yourself rather than teach someone else how, but if you take the time now, you will be rewarded in the long run
- Make sure you give people the resources they need – whether it’s access to password-protected websites, research you have already done, or information you have that they don’t
- Be aware of all that your team have on their plates. If they are helping you with something, possibly their regular work will be delayed – be cognisant of that …
- Be patient – learning takes time, but the investment is worth it
- Be prepared to assist if there are difficulties – step in before deadlines are missed
- Say “thank you” and reward effort
